LOCATION WHITWELL TN+AL GA KYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Aquic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Whitwell loam--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
BE--9 to 14 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam, weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine tubular pores; medium acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--14 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Bt2--24 to 40 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay loam; common fine and medium distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) and few fine distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) mottles; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 15 to 40 inches)
CB--40 to 52 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loam; common fine prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and few fine distinct gray (N 5/) mottles; weak coarse platy structure; firm; few fine pores; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
C--52 to 70 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loam stratified with thin seams of sandy loam and loamy sand; few fine prominent brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and few fine distinct gray (N 5/) mottles; massive; friable; 5 percent gravel up to 1.5 inches in diameter; very strongly acid. (5 to 30 inches thick.)
TYPE LOCATION: Sequatchie County, Tennessee; From the intersection of Rankin and Cherry Streets in Dunlap; east 1.5 miles on Old York Highway; 1150 feet south of the Sequatchie River bridge; 650 feet east of the river.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 60 inches and depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent in each horizon. The fragments are rounded and are mostly less than 3 inches across. The soil is strongly acid or very strongly acid except where the soil has been limed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 (or value of 3 less than 6 inches thick,) and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam, silt loam or sandy loam.
Most pedons have a transitional horizon between the A or E horizon and the Bt horizon and between the Bt and C horizon.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6 chroma of 4 to 8. Mottles of chroma 2 or less are present within the upper 30 inches of soil. It is loam, clay loam, sandy clay loam, silt loam or silty clay loam and some pedons have thin subhorizons of sandy loam. The silt content is more than 25 percent.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 2 to 8. Mottles are in shades of brown, yellow, and gray. It is loam, silt loam, sandy clay loam, sandy clay, or sandy loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Columbus, Eunola, and Mazarn series in the same family, and the Pelion, Sequatchie, Slagle, and Swafford series in related families. The Mollicy and Yauhannah series are former competing series that have not been reclassified to the current edition of Soil Taxonomy. Columbus, Eunola, Pelion, Slagle, and Yauhannah soils developed from fluvial and/or marine sediments in Southern Coastal Plain. Mazarn soils formed in sediments from shale, silstone, and sandstone and have a paralithic contact at 20 to 40 inches. Sequatchie soils have a dark surface layer and are well drained. Swafford soils are normally a few feet higher and have 40 to 60 percent brittleness in part of the Bt horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Whitwell soils formed in loamy alluvium on low stream terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent. Some areas are subject to rare or occasional flooding. Near the type location, mean annual air temperature is 60 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 53 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Sequatchie and Swafford series and the Humphreys, Hamblen and Sullivan series. Humphreys soils are well drained and have 15 to 35 percent fragments in the control section. Hamblen and Sullivan soils are on adjacent bottom lands and do not have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nearly all of the soil is cropped to corn, hay, soybeans, small grains, and some cotton and tobacco. Native vegetation was forest of oaks, hickory, beech, maple, elm, and sycamore.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys(MLRA 128) and Highland Rim in Tennessee (MLRA 122), northwestern Georgia, northern Alabama, and possibly Arkansas and Kentucky. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Johnson County, Tennessee; 1948.
REMARKS: The 7/00 revision places this series in the semiactive CEC activity class.
Diagnostic horizons and featured recognized in the pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon: 14 to 40 inches (Bt horizon)
Aquic feature: mottles with chroma of 2 or less within a depth of 30 inches.